ABSTRACT
Exposure to critical incidents and hence potentially traumatic events is endemic in law enforcement. The study of law enforcement officers' experience of moral injury and their exposure to potentially morally injurious incidents, and research on moral injury's relationship with different forms of traumatization (e.g. compassion fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder) are in their infancy. The present study aims to build on prior research and explores the role of moral injury in predicting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its clusters thereof. To this end, a sample of law enforcement officers (N = 370) from the National Police of Finland was recruited to participate in the current study. Results showed that moral injury significantly predicted PTSD as well as its diagnostic clusters (i.e., avoidance, hyperarousal, re-experiencing). The aforementioned role of moral injury to significantly predict PTSD and its clusters were unequivocal even when compassion fatigue was incorporated into the path model. Clinical, research, and law enforcement practice implications are discussed.
ABSTRACT
Reassurance seeking has long been hypothesized to be a key factor in the maintenance of anxiety within contemporary cognitive-behavioral approaches to the conceptualization and treatment of anxiety disorders. However, empirical studies have lagged due to the absence of a reliable and valid measure of reassurance seeking. The present study sought to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a theoretically derived measure of reassurance seeking in treatment-seeking participants with DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) social phobia (n=116), generalized anxiety disorder (n=75), panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (n=50), and obsessive compulsive disorder (n=42). Participants (N=283) completed the Reassurance Seeking Scale (RSS), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory-II. An exploratory factor analysis resulted in a coherent three factor solution reflecting the need to seek excessive reassurance regarding: (1) uncertainty about decisions, (2) attachment and the security of relationships, and (3) perceived general threat and anxiety. The RSS was found to possess good internal consistency and was moderately correlated with measures of anxiety, stress, and depression. The psychometric properties of the RSS appear promising for the promotion of programmatic research on reassurance seeking and its treatment in the anxiety disorders.
